03-04-09

Freedom of Information Act Does Not Compel Disclosure of One Company’s Emails to a Federal Agency About a Competitor’s Eligibility for Contract

By Lynn Patton Thompson


The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has ruled that the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") (5 USC § 552) does not require the Department of the Air Force to release a series of emails sent by one contractor about another contractor’s eligibility to participate in an Air Force contracts program. See Tybrin Corp. vs. United States Department of the Air Force, Case No. 3:08-cv-002 (So. Dist. Ohio)(pdf).

The Air Force’s Consolidated Acquisition of Professional Services ("CAPS") program is a five-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract under which multiple contract awards can be made. Actual work and services are awarded by the Air Force through subsequent competitions among the awardees. Both Tybrin Corporation and HMRTech2 were CAPS awardees.

In May 2007, Tybrin sent emails to the Air force concerning the eligibility of HMRTech2 to receive awards for work under the CAPS program. In July 2007, the Air Force disqualified HMRTech 2 from further participation in CAPS.

HMRTech2 sought release of the emails form the Air Force, and Air Force officials had determined to release them. Tybrin filed a "reverse FOIA" suit, claiming that the "(b)(4)" exemption under the FOIA prevented disclosure of its emails, and demanding that the Air Force be enjoined from releasing them. The (b)(4) exemption exempts "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential." 5 USC § 552(b)(4).

Tybrin’s position was that its emails were confidential and commercial. The District Court looked to the District of Columbia Circuit for guidance on whether the emails were subject to release under the FOIA. In 1992, the District of Columbia Circuit adopted the following test to determine whether information was "confidential" and therefore not subject to disclosure under FOIA:

financial or commercial information provided to the Government on a voluntary basis is "confidential" for the purpose of [the (b)(4)] exemption] if it is of a kind that would customarily not be released to the public by the person from whom it was obtained.

Critical Mass Energy Project v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 975 F.2d 871, 879 (D.C.Cir.1992)(en banc).

Thus, the Court considered whether Tybrin treated as confidential emails such as the ones sent to the Air Force concerning HMRTech2. The District Court determined that because Tybrin did not release them to the general public and controlled distribution of them even within Tybrin, the emails were treated by Tybrin as confidential.

Tybrin also argued that its emails were "commercial" because it had a "commercial interest" in them. Some courts have held that if the information submitted by an entity does not reveal anything about the nature, character, finances, revenues, or other business information the release of which would hurt the submitter, it is not "commercial" information protected from disclosure. However, again following a District of Columbia Circuit decision, the District Court in Ohio determined that Tybrin had a "commercial interest" in the emails concerning HMRTech 2’s eligibility to participate in CAPS. The Air Force was prohibited from releasing the emails it received from Tybrin.